Someone Freddy follows at twitter posted a link where Freddy found this video. The nerd radiation levels are simply incredible. Be careful if you are a hard core nerd. The combination of Monty Python and Star Trek might just overload your pleasure circuits. Watch with caution.
I hope you enjoyed and please pass it on to your friends.
Saturday, June 28, 2008
Thursday, June 26, 2008
Several foreign language videos sure to make you laugh.
Freddy is a lingophile. He loves to learn and speak languages. Freddy learns German and Freddy learns Japanese. Freddy even learned Spanish for a bit one summer. Of course, Freddy's love for foreign languages serves as an inspiration for some of his t-shirt designs. But Freddy is not writing to advertise today. Nor is he even writing to pass on Jennifer Laycock's latest SEO tips. Freddy is just going to provide some enjoyment for you today.
Freddy forgets how he found this video, but it made him chuckle the first time he saw it. It's in English, but there's a bit of German at the end.
Then there are the Berlitz ads. Freddy found this one a few years ago, and when he was teaching German, his students used to love it. (Unfortunately, though, some of them just said, "I don't get it")
Since Freddy is on the topic of German, here are some more. A few years ago, Freddy had the privilege of attending, and then hosting several concerts by Uwe Kind. Uwe is wonderful advocate for learning German and it is amazing how he can motivate even an auditorium full of very reluctant, self-conscious teenagers. Uwe is also quite a funny fellow and because of him, Freddy discovered clips of "Verstehen Sie Spass", which is a German Candid Camera type of program. Uwe first sent me this clip:
There are many more, and here are a few of my favorites:
and this one is maybe not quite as good, unless you can understand German:
So learn German.
Freddy could endlessly embed "Verstehen Sie Spass" videos, but if you are enjoying these, it is probably better for you to just search for "Verstehen Sie Spass" at YouTube on your own.
Oh, Freddy forgot his favorite one:
Of course, the Japanese spots are a whole different monster, but Freddy will save those for next time. Enjoy the German, and don't forget to come back in a week or so for more.
Freddy
Freddy forgets how he found this video, but it made him chuckle the first time he saw it. It's in English, but there's a bit of German at the end.
Then there are the Berlitz ads. Freddy found this one a few years ago, and when he was teaching German, his students used to love it. (Unfortunately, though, some of them just said, "I don't get it")
Since Freddy is on the topic of German, here are some more. A few years ago, Freddy had the privilege of attending, and then hosting several concerts by Uwe Kind. Uwe is wonderful advocate for learning German and it is amazing how he can motivate even an auditorium full of very reluctant, self-conscious teenagers. Uwe is also quite a funny fellow and because of him, Freddy discovered clips of "Verstehen Sie Spass", which is a German Candid Camera type of program. Uwe first sent me this clip:
There are many more, and here are a few of my favorites:
and this one is maybe not quite as good, unless you can understand German:
So learn German.
Freddy could endlessly embed "Verstehen Sie Spass" videos, but if you are enjoying these, it is probably better for you to just search for "Verstehen Sie Spass" at YouTube on your own.
Oh, Freddy forgot his favorite one:
Of course, the Japanese spots are a whole different monster, but Freddy will save those for next time. Enjoy the German, and don't forget to come back in a week or so for more.
Freddy
Saturday, June 21, 2008
Two things you should be aware of ... ok, at least one
Freddy has been away for a bit. He hasn't been out of town, but he has been learning about Search Engine Optimization and web promotion. Today Freddy wants to pass on to you a fun tip and a valuable person, if you are also someone who has a website, blog, business, or whatever, to promote.
The first thing is actually a person. Her name is Jennifer Laycock. She writes for Search Engine Guide. In fact, she is the editor of the whole site, it would seem. Freddy discovered her wonderful article series, Zero Cash, a little talent and thirty days while looking for ways to promote his Cafepress shop, Entropic Tees. Jennifer gave herself the challenge to start an online business with virtually no money and turn a profit within thirty days. In the article series she documents her successes and failures every day. In the end, she was highly successful and turned a profit of nearly $327. Many readers of her series have called the experiment somewhat unrealistic because of her already established base of readers and broad networking capabilities. Nevertheless, she attempted not to use those advantages and keep things as average as possible. Unless you already have connections like her, you probably won't see $300 + in the first month. Still, the series is full of helpful hints and common sense SEO stuff that you might not think of, especially if you are new to online marketing.
A friend of mine (who already is webmaster for several highly ranked websites) even found the series helpful. He said, "Freddy, thanks for sending me the link to the boob lady, I read the whole series through once, and now I'm reading it again and taking notes." As you can see, it was even helpful for an experienced web marketer. Ah, now Freddy knows you are more interested in why he called her the boob lady. Don't get too excited. It is merely because the CafePress store she set up for the experiment featured designs promoting breast feeding. She has lots of humorous designs, Freddy suggests that you have a look.
Jennifer's usefulness goes beyond this one article series. She writes an update nearly every day on web marketing and SEO and Freddy has been slowly reading his way through all her articles. She is sooooo easy to read. She doesn't use jargon or complicated computer lingo. Of course, there is some web specific language, but if you are somewhat familiar with the Internet, it really isn't so bad. What's more, she writes in a way so that you feel like she is a close friend, so even if you don't understand exactly what she is talking about, you can still enjoy the article.
This brings Freddy to the second thing he wants to tell you about. On a tip from Jennifer, he signed up for Twitter. Now Freddy first heard about Twitter a long time ago, and he checked it out, but didn't do much more than that with it. Freddy does have accounts at other social networking websites like myspace and facebook, but Freddy couldn't really understand what the deal with twitter was. (not that he is any good at using Myspace or Facebook either) That is, until he read another article series by Ms. Laycock. Freddy has learned to trust and respect Jennifer from the other articles he's read by her, so he figured if she endorsed it, he ought to give it a try. (She does more than just endorse it, in fact, she calls it one of the two social networking sites you cannot do without) Freddy is still working to build up his following and his friends on Twitter, but he will admit, that he finds a lot more fun than Myspace or Facebook.
Well, Freddy has done enough writing for today. Please check out Ms. Laycock, Please look for Freddy on Twitter, Myspace, Facebook, and of course, please stop by and browse the T-shirts at Entropic Tees. There were several new philosophy designs added just last week.
The first thing is actually a person. Her name is Jennifer Laycock. She writes for Search Engine Guide. In fact, she is the editor of the whole site, it would seem. Freddy discovered her wonderful article series, Zero Cash, a little talent and thirty days while looking for ways to promote his Cafepress shop, Entropic Tees. Jennifer gave herself the challenge to start an online business with virtually no money and turn a profit within thirty days. In the article series she documents her successes and failures every day. In the end, she was highly successful and turned a profit of nearly $327. Many readers of her series have called the experiment somewhat unrealistic because of her already established base of readers and broad networking capabilities. Nevertheless, she attempted not to use those advantages and keep things as average as possible. Unless you already have connections like her, you probably won't see $300 + in the first month. Still, the series is full of helpful hints and common sense SEO stuff that you might not think of, especially if you are new to online marketing.
A friend of mine (who already is webmaster for several highly ranked websites) even found the series helpful. He said, "Freddy, thanks for sending me the link to the boob lady, I read the whole series through once, and now I'm reading it again and taking notes." As you can see, it was even helpful for an experienced web marketer. Ah, now Freddy knows you are more interested in why he called her the boob lady. Don't get too excited. It is merely because the CafePress store she set up for the experiment featured designs promoting breast feeding. She has lots of humorous designs, Freddy suggests that you have a look.
Jennifer's usefulness goes beyond this one article series. She writes an update nearly every day on web marketing and SEO and Freddy has been slowly reading his way through all her articles. She is sooooo easy to read. She doesn't use jargon or complicated computer lingo. Of course, there is some web specific language, but if you are somewhat familiar with the Internet, it really isn't so bad. What's more, she writes in a way so that you feel like she is a close friend, so even if you don't understand exactly what she is talking about, you can still enjoy the article.
This brings Freddy to the second thing he wants to tell you about. On a tip from Jennifer, he signed up for Twitter. Now Freddy first heard about Twitter a long time ago, and he checked it out, but didn't do much more than that with it. Freddy does have accounts at other social networking websites like myspace and facebook, but Freddy couldn't really understand what the deal with twitter was. (not that he is any good at using Myspace or Facebook either) That is, until he read another article series by Ms. Laycock. Freddy has learned to trust and respect Jennifer from the other articles he's read by her, so he figured if she endorsed it, he ought to give it a try. (She does more than just endorse it, in fact, she calls it one of the two social networking sites you cannot do without) Freddy is still working to build up his following and his friends on Twitter, but he will admit, that he finds a lot more fun than Myspace or Facebook.
Well, Freddy has done enough writing for today. Please check out Ms. Laycock, Please look for Freddy on Twitter, Myspace, Facebook, and of course, please stop by and browse the T-shirts at Entropic Tees. There were several new philosophy designs added just last week.
Monday, June 9, 2008
Two Crazy Japanese T-shirts
Living in Japan, Freddy sure sees his share of crazy Japanese t-shirts. He first became aware of the Japanese fetish for non-sensical English while reading Dave Barry's "Dave Barry Does Japan" about 13 years ago. Mr. Barry mentions several T-shirts he observed while spending a Sunday afternoon in Harajuku's Yoyogi Koen area, where bands line the street a play bad music. Some of the shirts Freddy remembers said things like "Nurse Mentality", "Circuit Beaver", "King Fucker Chicken". Then, several years later, Freddy discovered a site called engrish.com, where there is a treasure trove of funny Japanese English submitted by people mostly living in Japan. One particular T-shirt from this website that Freddy remembers was submitted by a user who saw a 13 year old boy walking around wearing a shirt that said "Future F.A.G" Although engrish.com is an amusing site, the owner, unfortunately feels that some of the "engrish" needs further explanation and he always adds his own commentary beneath the pictures. More often than not, the picture was funnier before he said anything. Freddy once even wrote to him to suggest that he let the "engrish" stand on it's own and it didn't need further explanation. Now Freddy took a friendly, non-confrontational tone in his message, a sort of, "Why don't you..." or "Have you considered ..." type of suggestion. Yet, the owner took on a very defensive mood in his response, explaining to me that everyone loves his comments and they were not going anywhere. He even directed me to a FAQ regarding this topic, where he says "a clear majority of the site visitors prefer that the commentary stays. Freddy just wonders if so many people enjoy the commentary, why he needs to post a FAQ addressing the issue. Well, clearly, there is a significant amount of people who don't enjoy the commentary as well. Anyhow, Freddy is becoming distracted. He will just let the Engrish.com website owner continue to live in his own special world, where he is the funniest guy around.
He meant to tell you all about two or three fun Japanese T-shirts he has recently seen. Two of them belong(ed) to his son. The first one, he has grown out of, but it was one of Freddy's favorites. It was a shirt for a 1 year old, with a picture of a little bird on it and the text which said, "It is a shameful thing, the bird which soils it's own nest." What a perfect, uplifting message for a baby. Actually, Freddy thinks the most impressive thing about this shirt is that there is actually no grammar mistakes on it. Perhaps someday, Freddy will get around to making his own version of this desgin for EntropicTees. The other Tee also belongs to his son and he just got it the other day. It has a lady bug on the front, and the text says, "I am a justice". Freddy thinks it would be a bit better if it just said, "I am justice", but it's not bad. Freddy thinks this is a great shirt for a two year old. See below.
The other shirt Freddy saw was worn by another father at his daughter's kindergarten and it illustrated that Japanese sometimes have no idea what they are actually wearing. In fact, Freddy was close to being shocked at seeing this t-shirt, especially since it was at church, on a Sunday morning, worn by a member of the church. (Freddy's daughter's Kindergarten is run by the church). Anyhow, the shirt had a picture of a gang member holding a cop in a headlock from behind and the text said, "Make me come, faggot!" This desgin is not likely to ever make it into Freddy's store.
Freddy did add two new designs to his store this week. Visit the new products section to have a look.
He meant to tell you all about two or three fun Japanese T-shirts he has recently seen. Two of them belong(ed) to his son. The first one, he has grown out of, but it was one of Freddy's favorites. It was a shirt for a 1 year old, with a picture of a little bird on it and the text which said, "It is a shameful thing, the bird which soils it's own nest." What a perfect, uplifting message for a baby. Actually, Freddy thinks the most impressive thing about this shirt is that there is actually no grammar mistakes on it. Perhaps someday, Freddy will get around to making his own version of this desgin for EntropicTees. The other Tee also belongs to his son and he just got it the other day. It has a lady bug on the front, and the text says, "I am a justice". Freddy thinks it would be a bit better if it just said, "I am justice", but it's not bad. Freddy thinks this is a great shirt for a two year old. See below.
The other shirt Freddy saw was worn by another father at his daughter's kindergarten and it illustrated that Japanese sometimes have no idea what they are actually wearing. In fact, Freddy was close to being shocked at seeing this t-shirt, especially since it was at church, on a Sunday morning, worn by a member of the church. (Freddy's daughter's Kindergarten is run by the church). Anyhow, the shirt had a picture of a gang member holding a cop in a headlock from behind and the text said, "Make me come, faggot!" This desgin is not likely to ever make it into Freddy's store.
Freddy did add two new designs to his store this week. Visit the new products section to have a look.
Wednesday, June 4, 2008
Elimination Woes - A Day of Discomfort
Freddy was a little late for work the other day, so he didn't have time to eliminate before he left. It is unlikely that he will make that mistake again. Although he did not feel the need to eliminate at the time, around lunch time, a storm began a brewin'. As a result, Freddy spent most of the afternoon in discomfort as his stomach and intenstines churned while he tried to wait until he returned home that evening.
Now some of Freddy's readers might be saying, "What's the big deal. Why didn't you just eliminate at work?" This might be an easy solution for some, but Freddy is a bit particular about where he eliminates. "Wait a second," say Freddy's friends, "I've never known you to be picky about where you eliminate. What about that time you eliminated in front of Sandburg's Store for Men? or behind the Wheaton Eye Clinic's sign?" Well, yes, Freddy, on occassion has thrown caution to the wind and chosen a few unique, less-than-discrete spots for the ritual, but for the most part, Freddy only eliminates where he feels comfortable.
There is a famous story amoung Freddy's family members about how he held back his elimination for nearly a week during summer camp when he was 8 year old. The reason? He didn't wanted to eliminate in the rooms with plumbing, not in some stinky hole in the ground. His counselor told him they could only use the nice elimination rooms at the cafeteria if it was an absolute emergency. Freddy figured, if he held it long enough, it would eventually be a true emergency and he could honestly ask for permission to use the cafeteria elimination rooms.
You see, Freddy's preffered Elimination area is kind of like that Ernest Hemmingway short story, "A Clean, Well-lighted Place." That's what Freddy likes when he eliminates, clean, not stinky and well-lighted. "Wide stances" from the next stall are not welcome either. Freddy's first choice is always his own elimination room in his home. He keeps it clean, it's comfortable, and there are plenty of books around to pass the time. Should nature beckon when Freddy is not at home, however, he is very careful about which facility he chooses. Sadly, Freddy's current place of employment does not offer an elimination room that is up to his standards, and therefore, never eliminates at work. It was the same in high school. Freddy did not like the rooms provided at school, so for four years, he limited his elimination to his home. In college, there were only two other rooms on campus, besides his apartment, where Freddy would eliminate, should an emergency arise. Those were the fourth floor rooms on BGC near the elevator, or the third floor elimination rooms in Blanchard hall. If Freddy had an urgent need to eliminate on campus, and he was, say, in the library, he would pack up and leave the library to and utilize the Blanchard rooms (assuming that was closer than his own apartment) and then return to the library after elimination had completed.
Since Freddy wakes up pretty early these days, and has at least two cups of coffee before he heads off to work, I guess it's pretty important to take care of that elimination before going out the door. That, or at least make sure there is a Sandburg's Store for Men on the way. Happy Eliminating!
Freddy's stores:
EntropicTees
Cafepress
Now some of Freddy's readers might be saying, "What's the big deal. Why didn't you just eliminate at work?" This might be an easy solution for some, but Freddy is a bit particular about where he eliminates. "Wait a second," say Freddy's friends, "I've never known you to be picky about where you eliminate. What about that time you eliminated in front of Sandburg's Store for Men? or behind the Wheaton Eye Clinic's sign?" Well, yes, Freddy, on occassion has thrown caution to the wind and chosen a few unique, less-than-discrete spots for the ritual, but for the most part, Freddy only eliminates where he feels comfortable.
There is a famous story amoung Freddy's family members about how he held back his elimination for nearly a week during summer camp when he was 8 year old. The reason? He didn't wanted to eliminate in the rooms with plumbing, not in some stinky hole in the ground. His counselor told him they could only use the nice elimination rooms at the cafeteria if it was an absolute emergency. Freddy figured, if he held it long enough, it would eventually be a true emergency and he could honestly ask for permission to use the cafeteria elimination rooms.
You see, Freddy's preffered Elimination area is kind of like that Ernest Hemmingway short story, "A Clean, Well-lighted Place." That's what Freddy likes when he eliminates, clean, not stinky and well-lighted. "Wide stances" from the next stall are not welcome either. Freddy's first choice is always his own elimination room in his home. He keeps it clean, it's comfortable, and there are plenty of books around to pass the time. Should nature beckon when Freddy is not at home, however, he is very careful about which facility he chooses. Sadly, Freddy's current place of employment does not offer an elimination room that is up to his standards, and therefore, never eliminates at work. It was the same in high school. Freddy did not like the rooms provided at school, so for four years, he limited his elimination to his home. In college, there were only two other rooms on campus, besides his apartment, where Freddy would eliminate, should an emergency arise. Those were the fourth floor rooms on BGC near the elevator, or the third floor elimination rooms in Blanchard hall. If Freddy had an urgent need to eliminate on campus, and he was, say, in the library, he would pack up and leave the library to and utilize the Blanchard rooms (assuming that was closer than his own apartment) and then return to the library after elimination had completed.
Since Freddy wakes up pretty early these days, and has at least two cups of coffee before he heads off to work, I guess it's pretty important to take care of that elimination before going out the door. That, or at least make sure there is a Sandburg's Store for Men on the way. Happy Eliminating!
Freddy's stores:
EntropicTees
Cafepress
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